Temple Square Missionary

Dear Family,

I have had quite the week! Sister Campbell and I were together until Wednesday, bouncing between Nampa and Middleton to get everything ready for our new companions. Missionaries always talk about miracles happening on exchanges, and we had a few of our own. First, we got a referral from some elders in Caldwell for a woman who is going through a really hard time right now. We stopped by her home and met her grandma and aunt, who also live there. We were not able to find the woman we were looking for, but got to talk with the aunt. She has a really good LDS friend in the ward that she works on family history with.  

The other cool thing that happened was when we visited some members to ask about their neighbors only the wife was home, but we were able to figure out that her and her husband served a mission in the Palmyra temple, where Sister Campbell is from. Siser Campbell worked in a gas station near the temple, and the husband would come to the gas station all the time to say hi to her and buy her donuts. Just one of those crazy connections that really remind you how small the world really is.

On Wednesday, we went to district meeting then picked up our companions around 12. President and Sister Sorensen took us all out to lunch at Cafe Zupas and then we came back to the office where he assigned us our companions. My companion is Sister Blocker and she is from Dallas, Texas. She entered the MTC a week before me and left a week after. It is a welcome change to be companions with someone who has been out the same amount of time, I am really enjoying it. 

We had our baptism on Saturday! Our ten year old investigator got baptized on the 23rd. He was just beaming the whole time, and he had some pretty happy parents and grandparents. There were many sister missionaries there that had taught him over the past year, so it was really fun to see all of them. He is a really special kid, and it is cool to see how the children in a family promote and encourage their parents to be better disciples of Christ. 

Women's conference was really amazing on Saturday, and I felt like I needed to hear so many things that were said there. I felt like I kept on hearing over and over again to remember who we are, that we are sons and daughters of the most High. We have a divine nature and potential, every single one of us. I feel like I sometimes forget this, especially when I am being really hard on myself and comparing myself to other missionaries. But that is a tool of the adversary, who wants us to forget how special we are. So I am learning more about putting my trust in the Lord, and relying on Him rather than myself. I just love this gospel so much, I know that this is the Christ's restored church on the earth today. And I know that Heavenly Father does have a plan for us to be happy. 

Love,

Sister Jensen  

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Temple Square Missionary

New Companion

Wearing lavalava in our new apartment.

Dear Family,

I am going to break my three month streak! I finally get to stay in an area for longer than 2 transfers. We got our transfer calls on Saturday morning and they were pretty surprising. If there is one thing I can count on about transfers is that I never see what's coming. First off, Sister Tukumoeatu is going to Meridian and she is going to train! I am super excited for her and know she will do an amazing job. I am staying and my new companion will be a temple square missionary! There are only two of them coming to the mission, and I think they will be helping out a ton with the open house, giving us trainings and what not. They are not coming in until Wednesday, so I will be companions with Sister Campbell, who is getting the other temple square missionary. I love Sister Campbell, she is from Rochester, New York and has the most beautiful singing voice. I told her at zone conference that we were going to be companions one day and look what happened. I am so excited about being with a sister from temple square! I honestly just can't wait to ask her tons of questions, like if they travel through the underground tunnels and how many general authorities she has met. I would never have guessed that this would happen, along with all of the other changes I have been through on my mission. 

I don't have much to report since I just emailed on Thursday. Our move on Friday went really well. The four other elders in Middleton helped, which was really awesome because our apartment is upstairs. It is probably the nicest place I have lived in on my mission. We have two bedrooms and one bathroom, and we have a washer and dryer in the bathroom. The kitchen is nice and spacious. And I just love living with another set of sisters, it is really fun. 

We had stake conference yesterday and is was good as always. President Sorensen spoke about conversion, and related the story of Peter and the process of his conversion. It is pretty incredible that Peter was in the presence of the Savior, witnessed His miracles and teachings, and still wasn't converted. He had a testimony that Jesus was the Messiah, but wasn't always true to that testimony at first. But, after denying the Savior, feeling that intense sorrow, then being taught by the resurrected Savior about being a true disciple, Peter became converted. He moved mountains and shaped history. All of us need to go through our own process of conversion, laying our broken heart and contrite spirit on the alter of sacrifice in order that Heavenly Father may shape us into the person He knows we can become. I love this scripture that I read this morning: 

"I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." Words of Mormon 1:7

I am so grateful to be here in Middleton, doing the will of the Father. 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

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New Companion

Baptism and Homecoming

Beautiful Idaho Sky

Dear Family,

Change is coming! Time on the mission really is so strange. I feel like I was just called as a trainer, given the challenge of a new area. But now it has almost been three months and we find out on Saturday if one of us is leaving. I am hoping to break my trend of only being in an area for three months, but we will see what Heavenly Father has in mind! 

We had the most wonderful baptism on Saturday.  Our investigators are really special people and I feel so grateful that we have been able to play a small, small part in their journey. That is what I love about missionary work. Ultimately this is all the Lord's work, but He is willing to let us help because He knows that is what will allow us to become more like Him. Heavenly Father really is so good. As they were being baptized, I had that familiar burning in my heart, felt at every baptism. It was also great to see the support from the ward, we definitely should have held the service in the Chapel. It was funny because we had the baptism in the evening, and it happened to be the same evening as homecoming. So there were a big group of homecoming goers that showed up to the baptism before going to the dance. I have just loved working with and seeing the youth so excited in this process. I am also very excited for these new members and this new life they are beginning, and I know that it already has brought them so much happiness.

The baptism was definitely the highlight or this past week. Other than that we have been busy visiting families and getting the members excited about inviting people to the open house. We finally made contact with a family whose son is 13 and not baptized yet. We had a great talk with them and the son told us that he really wants to be baptized, so we are going to teach them the first lesson tomorrow. And yesterday we had zone conference, and we focused on planning on finding new people to teach. That really is the hardest thing about missionary work, is finding. We have many, many hours open that could be used in teaching if we can just find the people. For me, I have learned that it is all about having faith that Heavenly Father is preparing people for us to teach, and then doing everything within our power to find those people. As we do that, Heavenly Father will bless us. There is so much I can improve on, and I know that I can't become the missionary Heavenly Father knows I can be unless I rely on Him. I love this gospel, I know that it has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Savior stands by us as we testify that He lives and that He loves us.

Love,

Sister Jensen  

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Baptism and Homecoming

A visit to Baker City

Dear Family,

We have had just another wonderful week here in Middleton. I feel like I don't have any major updates, so this might be shorter than my usual email. We did have good things happen though. We met with new investigators that the sisters started teaching a year ago. A couple in our ward have befriended these people and we have started to teach them again.  We went on Wednesday night and told them about the temple. We also asked them if they want to take the lessons again and they said yes! So we are looking forward to that this week. 

We also taught C. again. We taught him more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He was really interested by the Book of Mormon and said that he would try to read it. I have been thinking a lot lately about the power of the Book of Mormon. I have heard so many people talk about their conversion story and the Book of Mormon's key role in that conversion. I know that if someone with real intent and faith in Christ reads that book, they will receive a witness from the Spirit that it is the word of God. On the other hand, when people I have taught don't read the Book of Mormon, they don't feel that Spirit and don't find answers to their prayers, and it is really hard for them to progress. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it works together with the Bible, they go hand in hand to accomplish the purposes of Heavenly Father in bringing His children back to Him.

The highlight of this week was returning to Baker City for a baptism! I taught E. when I was there. E. has other members of her family that have already joined the church.  It was really cool because I got to see their family start coming back to church when I was there. And E.'s dad actually got to baptize her, which was really special. I love, love, love the Spirit that is always present at baptisms. It is always a confirmation to me that this is the Lord's work that we are participating in a work that is more important than we can comprehend. I love this gospel and I love my Savior.

Love,

Sister Jensen 

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A visit to Baker City

Birthday Time!

Dear Family,

Another wonderful week filled with miracles here in Middleton has come and gone. It is so unfair how quickly the time goes by, but I guess I just have to learn to be grateful for the time that Heavenly Father does bless me with.

The eclipse last Monday was pretty cool. We went to this member's home that lives on a hill so you could see most of the valley. Leading up to the eclipse things started to get slightly dim. One unexpected thing was the temperature dropping. It got the darkest around 11:30, and it was cool to see the lights come on throughout the valley. It got pretty light quickly after that and it was over. I wish we could have been somewhere that had the total eclipse, because just with that little bit of sun still shining it was pretty light. But it was still an amazing experience that makes me think of the wonder of God's creation. 

We found a new investigator this week! He lives with a member of the church and the sisters taught some of the other family members about a year ago. This week, about the fifth or sixth time that we have talked to C., we asked if he would be interested in us coming and teaching him. He told us that he isn't really interested in the church, but that we could come over and talk about our beliefs. That is not a response that we get very often, so we were pretty excited. We went a couple of days later with a sister in the ward and taught most of the first lesson. C. has read the Bible 5 times over that last 15ish years. When we talked about God's love for us, we asked him if he has felt that love in his life. He told us about how the birth of his son was one major time that he felt God's love for him. We had a great talk about Christ and His earthly ministry. One thing that I love about this mission is that 9 out of 10 people that you talk to have this strong belief in Jesus Christ. We were running out of time and we could only briefly teach the restoration, but what we did teach about it was well received. We were also able to tell him that we believe we have a prophet in our day, and that he leads and guides us through direct revelation from Jesus Christ. We were able to set up a return appointment for this next week, stay tuned for how that goes!

We also found a couple of potential investigators. There is this girl in our ward who just got back from her mission. We went out with her about a month ago and went over to this family that she used to know. We talked to them about the Meridian Temple and invited them to the open house, which they seemed excited about. Then we told them what we do as missionaries, and asked if we could come back and teach them, and they both said that we could! We are going back tomorrow.

Sister Helm moved back to Middleton after her mission! I lived in the same apartment with Sister Helm for 6 weeks back in Nampa during all of the crazy winter weather. Now she is back and I am trying to make myself call her Jenni. I am very excited for her to be here, she already has brought me Costa Vida for my birthday and she is planning on driving me to a baptism in Halfway, Oregon in October. And my birthday was good! We did service for most of the day so that was fun. In the morning we helped a less-active lady in her garage, and in the afternoon we helped clean out horse stalls for these other less-actives. This older couple lives in this upstairs room in a barn, which is actually nicer than you think it would be. We had dinner with them later in the day, and they knew it was my birthday. They got me one of those huge chocolate cakes from Costco that are super rich. They sent it home with us, and we were about to drive away without it, but I remember and ran back up the stairs to their apartment to take that cake. More than half of it is left so I am going to try and share with some of the elders today. 

Thank you to everyone that sent me stuff for birthday! It was a good day and I couldn't ask for anything better on my birthday than to be a missionary.

Love,

Sister Jensen

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Birthday Time!